So, since I looked at essays that previous PCVs wrote, in order to get an idea of what is acceptable/awesome to write about, I thought I would share mine as well. (Yes, they are extraordinarily corny)
TIPS: Write them. Show them to a friend, have that friend talk about the content, any mistakes they see, etc. Rewrite them. Send them to another friend, have them focus on the word choices, any English mistakes, and the content as well. but most of all, stay true to yourself. If there is something that you really want to keep in there because it shows your true colors or something important to you, keep it in there!
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Essay 1: Peace Corps service presents major physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. You have provided information on how you qualify for Peace Corps service elsewhere in the application. In the space below, please provide a statement (between 250 - 500 words) that includes:
• Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and
• How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.
• How you expect to satisfy the Peace Corps 10 Core Expectations (please be specific about which expectations you expect to find most challenging and how you plan to overcome these challenges).
As Dada Lulu laid down the last pictures of the friends that she had lost, it cemented my future career choice in my mind: I would work to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, the terrible disease that had taken their lives. This moment of clarity is one I fall back upon when I need inspiration or motivation. Dada Lulu is an HIV-positive community member with whom my fellow volunteers and I had the much-appreciated opportunity to speak about what it is like to live with the disease.
When an e-mail advertising a volunteer opportunity in Tanzania arrived in my inbox, I jumped at the chance to apply. After anxiously awaiting my acceptance, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to experience Africa, a lifelong dream of mine. Despite my continued interest in sexual health, I expected teaching about AIDS to be a challenge. People are afraid to speak about the disease and misinformation abounds because of excessive stigma. In African culture, the disease functions as something that not only wears away an individual’s body, but tears at the heart of the community.
Traveling to Tanzania transformed me in innumerable ways, but the most obvious being a much-needed boost to my drive to help others. After two years at a university in Los Angeles, I had become disheartened in my volunteer efforts and my impact on the community. I felt that my efforts were mired in the egocentric culture of Hollywood, and my disappointment began to affect my education plans. All of that changed upon my return home from Tanzania. I am now interning with Planned Parenthood in education, a choice that teaching abroad empowered me to make. I am planning to pursue a graduate degree in public health, because it is a growing field of study that I am very passionate about, in the hopes that it will prepare me with the background information and skills to eventually work abroad in an HIV-related field.
Upon reflecting on my trip to Sub-Saharan Africa, I realized that although I went to help others, I ended up helping myself more. I found within myself a strength I never knew I had. With this realization, I know that I can fulfill the 10 Core Expectations, if not with ease, then with the strength I pull from within myself. The only problem I could foresee facing is that I am a woman of strong opinions who is always willing to share if asked. However, my experience with cultures that are not my own has taught me to be more sensitive in sharing my values. Ultimately, I feel that I will be able to tactfully handle whatever is thrown my way in my Peace Corps experience.
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Essay 2: Your success as a Peace Corps Volunteer is based on the trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture (Core Expectation #4). Describe an experience you have had in living or working in a social or cultural environment different from your own. What specific challenges did you face concerning trust, confidence, and/or integration? What did you learn from this experience that you will bring with you to your Peace Corps service?
The market in Babati was teeming with people who had only encountered white skin on the television, and therefore, our group of travelers was quite an attraction when we first arrived. I became acclimated to the shouts of “mzungu” from the local children, and looking down to find that I was walking with at least three of them, one maybe brave enough to hold my hand. Since these children were young, they had yet to learn English in school. Similarly, my Swahili was still limited to basic phrases and wild gesturing when all else failed. Despite the cliché, adults do have much to learn of human nature from children. Although I looked different from anyone they had even seen, these children trusted me enough to try to communicate with me, or when all else failed, to just hold my hand and smile.
While in this market, I learned perhaps one of the most significant lessons of traveling: the importance of language. Language has enormous power to either unite or isolate people. I will never forget the look on the face of a woman at a stall when a fellow American volunteer broke out in almost perfect Swahili. Not only did we get a price reduction, but we changed their perception of us as mere tourists. I learned a valuable lesson about language: bridge the gap, and people will be more accepting of what you have to offer them. In a situation such as volunteer work, I learned that I can only help as much as my help is accepted, and that it is my responsibility to do all I can to bridge that gap through honest communication.
When I travel, I do my best to fit in with the local people wherever I may go. While my appearance may help me to integrate into some countries with ease, in other countries it alerts people to the fact that I am most definitely a traveler. I believe that becoming fluent in the language and attempting to dress the part of a local, while respecting the people and their cultural traditions, is the best recipe for acceptance. While in Tanzania, I went to great lengths to attempt to fit in, both by getting my hair braided weekly and by wearing locally made clothes whenever I could. Those around me appreciated my efforts, or at least found humor in it, which I learned is another way of bridging gaps. Every time I would return from a trip to the braider, my home-stay mama would exclaim, “Albeeno!” and then just laugh and laugh. I loved these encounters, because my mama spoke very little English, so watching her laugh and smile at my jokes, facial expressions, and my attempts to try to be Tanzanian is one of the fondest memories I have of her. Through this experience I learned that I could have an impact on somebody without ever having to use words.
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NOTE: I wrote both of my essays about the same time period abroad, however, I wrote about two different experiences from that journey. If you don't think you have anything to write about, talk to friends, family, and anyone else. There is a reason you are applying.
